A controversy has erupted over a twisted new Las Vegas game in which armed players in camouflage hunt down naked young women with paintball guns – and even have sex with them after the chase.

The creators of “Hunting for Bambi” charge up to $10,000 per participant for the “thrill” of chasing showgirls, who are nude except for sneakers, and blasting them with red dye.

“You can actually hunt one of our Bambi s- – – – and shoot her with paintballs,” Mike Burdick, who runs Real Men Outdoor Productions, says on his Web site.

The site says “over 30 women [are] ready to be chased down and shot like dogs” and then have sex with the shooter – if she’s interested.

A company spokesman insisted the hunt is “just good, clean fun” and says the women who serve as prey, most of them Vegas showgirls, budding starlets and escorts, are well compensated.

“The girls get paid either way. If they get shot, it’s $1,000. If they don’t get shot, it’s $2,500. So it pays for them to be athletic and really use their cunning not to get bagged,” said the spokesman, who would only identify himself as Paul.

“It’s like an adult-entertainment version of ‘Survivor’ or ‘American Gladiators.’ Hey, this is the kind of thing that Vegas is famous for.”

But The National Organization for Women calls the hunts, which take place in the woods and deserts of Nevada, sick and barbaric.

“It’s appalling, and it’s really frightening,” Rita Haley, president of NOW’s New York City chapter, said.

“It says something about the men who want to play this game and something about the financial climate that drives women to participate. The big fear is that somebody who plays will eventually want to use real bullets.”

The “Hunting for Bambi” spokesman said: “We are not about degrading women. Nobody is being arm-twisted. Some of the women just dig it, being hunted. And men like to hunt. This is something that goes back to prehistoric times.”

He said participants – there have been about 20 so far – receive a professionally filmed videotape of their hunt.

The company soon hopes to have something for everyone and will eventually introduce hunts in which women can track naked hunks and gays can go after men, the spokesman said.